Ben Agande, Emmanuel Aziken
7 September 2008
Abuja — ACCESS to President Umaru Yar'Adua seems to have been restricted after the nation's number one citizen returned to the country in the early hours of yesterday from a trip to Saudi Arabia which sparked off reports of ill health and admission in hospital for renal transplant in the foreign country.
Erstwhile chairman of the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, also, yesterday, urged caution from Nigeria's senior citizens on the president's health condition and denounced as rascally alleged subtle campaign by some of them to replace him (Yar'Adua).
Sunday Vanguard sources in the Presidential Villa said the president proceeded to his residence immediately he returned to the country and remained indoor throughout yesterday, saying visitors had been denied access to him.
The sources explained that some top government officials who attempted to see him were also turned back by aides.
Details of Yar'Adua's return were being kept top secret yesterday as Presidency officials were unwilling to speak on the matter.
Even government spokesmen who insisted that the almost two weeks visit of the president to Saudi Arabia was for lesser hajj rather than on health grounds, appeared unwilling to comment.
Sunday Vanguard's calls to the Information and Communications Minister, Mr. John Odey, and the special adviser to the president on communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, were not answered. But a top government source described Yar'Adua's return as a hot matter, saying, "If they (Presidency) had wanted you people to know about it, the press would have been invited. Please leave me out of the matter."
According to him, the president's return was kept top secret with only a few aides and security details that had the need to know being informed.
The source who claimed to have seen Yar'Adua on arrival said, "He was looking healthy and more relaxed than the way he looked when he departed the country. It appears that the story about his ill health as carried in the media was exaggerated.
Another source said those on the entourage of the president upon his arrival were his wife, Turai, his ADC, Col M Onoveta, the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, the National Economic Adviser, Tanimu Kurfi, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties, Inuwa Baba and a few security details.
Meanwhile, Anenih has called for caution from senior citizens on the health condition of Yar'Adua and denounced as rascally the subtle campaign by some of them to replace him.
The former PDP BOT chairman, in a statement made available to Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, equally regretted the management of the information regarding the health situation of the president by his media advisers even as he linked the credibility crisis to deceit carried out by past administrations.
Noting that the health condition of the president must be treated with great sensitivity, the PDP chieftain said:
"What one expects of Nigerians older than Yar'Adua, especially very elderly ones, is to perceive him as a son and pray for his quick recovery. Younger ones should also wish him the same. Instead, the clamour by some of them is on how to replace the president, demonstrating an obvious lack of patriotism.
"They are nothing but political rascals, seeking for the quickest way to seize power. They ought to know that in matters of health and illness, life and death, God is the sole determinant."
Further denouncing what he said was the politicization of the president's illness, he said:
"The more sinister dimension of politicizing President Yar'Adua's illness is that it is capable of creating the impression of a political crisis. That is why we must exercise utmost caution in matters relating to the health of the President. Speculations about the death of the President are capable of plunging our nation into a severe crisis situation and generating anxiety over leadership succession which, in turn, can lead to social and political instability.
"We must, under no circumstance, create, in the mind of the public, a crisis where none exists. Our political history shows that we are vulnerable to such political hysteria," he said.
Noting the poor media management of the illness, he said:
"Following President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's trip to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj (umrah), there have been all manner of speculations on the president's state of health.
"Some political parties have gone as far as calling on the President to resign and hand over to an interim government. This general politicization of the President's illness is uncharitable, capable of causing political instability and a desecration of our cultural values.
"Behind the rumours is a public mistrust of the process of information management, especially by the official organs of Government. Definitely, some members of the public do not believe the statement by Mr. John Odey, minister of information and communication, concerning the purpose of President Yar'Adua's trip abroad. But why not? Why are some Nigerians doubtful of the veracity of the minister's statement?"
Anenih noted that other countries including the United States and France have had occasions where their leaders have been afflicted with more debilitating ailments but without the kind of rumours that have shadowed the reported ailment of Yar'Adua.
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